Air India to focus on higher revenues, not trimming staff costs: Senior official

Seeking a turnaround in its fortunes, Air India is looking to augment revenues rather than trim staff expenses even as it battles tough market conditions and financial woes. The carrier, which is surviving on a staggered INR300b bailout package, has around 19,000 employees, including over 1,500 pilots and about 6,000 people on contract. A senior official said the airline is looking at various options to increase revenues and that there are no plans to cut down costs related to staff. "Air India's staff is around 12% of the total expenses...It might be an easy way to slash expenditure by withdrawing or doing away with certain perks given to employees but that will not help in the long-term," he noted. Significantly, the carrier had early last year announced a slew of cost-cutting measures. <br/>